Mimmo"s 3rd Blog

What science ideas did you learn?

This week I learned many things. I had to do a lab report about lasers bouncing off surfaces. I learned that lasers bounce of surfaces and the same angle they hit the surface. The angle the laser hits the surface is call Angle of Incident and the angle it bounces off the surface is called Angle of Reflection. Also this week I read an article about at 12 year old boy who invent something to do with solar energy. To add, I also learned about Particle Models of Light and how then move with different kinds of light. With a laser we learned how the particles move in a straight line, which gives you the beam. With a normal light, the particles are scattered with gives you the glow in every direct. Finally, we learned about what light does when it hits water. We have a couple different hypothesis and we don't know which is correct yet. We said maybe the light hits the water and bounces everywhere, the light hits the water and scatters only through the water, or it hits the water and keeps going through the water and some of it bounces off the surface.

How did you learn these ideas?

We learn these ideas like how we always do. Mr. Finley asks us a question, we come up with a hypothesis, and then we test our hypothesis. For example with the laser. He asked us "Do lasers move in one general direction after they are reflected off a mirror?" Then we answered and aid yes, then he said if that is true then how do they travel after they reflect. They we hypothesize that maybe they reflect in the same angle they are pointed in. Finally we tested it and talked about our results.

Why is it important to know this idea (What real world application is there)?

It is important to know this idea because when I'm older I could be on a date with a girl who is really into science and she will ask me how do lasers reflect off mirrors. Then I could remember back to 8th grade science and say their Angle of Reflection is equal to their Angle of Incident. Then she will be really impressed.